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TX Democrats file suit: Who funded Green Party petition drive?

The Texas Democratic Party has gone to court to force the Green Party to identify who funded a petition drive to put them on the November ballot. Democrats say the drive was a disguised effort to help Rick Perry. The Republican governor could be the beneficiary if the liberal Green Party candidate for governor draws votes from Democrat Bill White. The motion for a restraining order was filed this morning in district court in Austin. If granted, it would allow lawyers for the Democratic Party to take depositions of participants under oath to find out who bankrolled the effort.

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Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie: “Texans need to know the truth about Rick Perry’s involvement in the Republican/Green Party petition scam.” Perry spokesman Mark Miner said the governor was not involved. The secretary of state on Wednesday cleared the way for the Greens to field candidates for the fall campaign. But questions have arisen about out-of-state Republican interests that collected 92,000 signatures to put the party on the Texas ballot. The drive was spearheaded by a GOP consultant from Arizona with a history of working for conservative causes and Republican candidates. The consultant arranged for a Chicago-based petition-gathering firm with money from a company called Take Initiative America. The signatures were given to the Green Party as an in-kind contribution.

Green Party state coordinator Kat Swift says they believe the petition drive was legal but are awaiting written assurance before moving forward to field candidates. Ritchie said the real question is who paid for it. “For them to depend on the word of shady out-of-state Republican operatives to determine whether this is illegal would be like depending on the word of BP to determine responsibility for the oil spill. If the Green Party is truly concerned that no laws have been broken, they will welcome this judicial review.”

Swift says state law makes it difficult for a third party to field candidates and that without the outside help, the party couldn’t have made the ballot this year. She says the Green Party intends to list Take Initiative America as the donor. But the actual source of the funding – perhaps more than $200,000 – is a mystery. She says she doesn’t know who actually paid for the drive and Republican consultant Tim Mooney refuses to say. A Republican attorney who heads Take Initiative America has not returned telephone calls for comment.

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The blog for the Dallas Morning News politics team tracks Dallas Fort Worth area, Texas and national campaigns.